Toddler Girl Dies When Teen Sister Quiets Her With Pillow to the Face While Mom Works

A 16-year-old Florida girl has been charged with manslaughter after she allegedly put a pillow over her toddler sister’s head to keep her quiet while her mother worked in the next room.

The girl is being charged as a juvenile and appeared before a judge Tuesday morning, WESH reported.

Altamonte Springs police said they were called to an extended stay hotel last Friday for an “unresponsive juvenile.”

Authorities said the mother was working remotely on her laptop in one room while the teen was watching over her 3-year-old sister in another. According to investigators, the mother said that the toddler was being very loud and she told the older girl to keep the toddler quiet because she was on the phone, WKMG said. She told investigators that the girl quieted down for about 10 minutes, but then the teen came into the room where she was working, carrying her sister.

“She’s not breathing. She’s unresponsive. Her lips are turning blue,” a caller told a 911 dispatcher.

The girl didn’t respond to CPR and was pronounced dead.

“It’s very tragic, it’s a 3-year-old, a very young, young child. Sixteen-year-old is also young. A mother loses both daughters in one night because the 16-year-old was arrested that night,” Altamonte Springs Police Public Information Officer Michelle Montalvo said.

The 16-year-old was ordered held in juvenile detention at least until her arraignment on August 8, WESH said. An attorney for the girl said the family is cooperating with the investigation.

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